Three boats razed by fire

SURABAYA: Three large motorized long boats were reduced to floating wrecks after a fire swept through them at the Port of Kalimas in Surabaya early on Monday morning.

The 10-meter long vessels, the KLM Dharma Surya, KLM Harapan Bersaudara and KLM Karya Saudaraku, were in the port loading miscellaneous cargo before leaving to Samarinda and Makassar.

Naelul Muran, the head of PT Kembang Mahakam, the company that owned the KLM Dharma Surya, said the fire started at about 3:50 a.m. on the boat, which was ready to leave to Samarinda, quickly spreading to two other vessels nearby.

Ten fire engines arrived at the scene several hours after the blaze began but could not put it out until 10:30 a.m.

There was no information about the cause of the fire.-- JP